You've cooled off a little bit on other Asian markets
, but you still have been upbeat on China.
So this news that the government is taking steps,
maybe they're not the most aggressive steps to shore up
the property market. Do you feel that that vindicates
your position and what will it mean for China?
Um Thank you so much for having me. Um
So I think on China, you know, we
did step back a little bit uh post uh the
initial rebound that we saw in January, uh this
constructive view that we've come back, uh you know
, in China is more recent. Um And this
is largely driven, I would say based on some
of the market level signals that we are seeing and
also the intermarket dispersion that we are seeing. So
at a market level, I would say that,
you know, valuations have been cheap, but earnings
revisions seem to be bottoming out. So I think
that is where the fundamental support is coming back.
In fact, even on a sentiment perspective, I
would say that, you know, the better sentiment
looks quite extreme, very similar to some of the
levels that we saw last year and some of the
policy led support that the market will actually start receiving
is also one of the key catalysts that we are
looking for. But uh apart from that, I
think intermarket, this version is also looking quite extreme
. Uh there has been this extreme chasing of some
of the defensive names in China for almost 2.5,
3 years. And that to us looks unsustainable and
that's why we are hoping for. So um in
terms of your cooling off on Asia, we look
, we just saw the numbers, the trade numbers
for Korea and for the first, you know,
July 1st to 10th exports down pretty sharply. Is
that a sign of, of the LA LA of
demand coming from China? And is that one of
the clouds hanging over markets like like Korea's, I
mean, to some extent, yes, I think
when we started of the year China reopening was anticipated
as one of the key catalysts for the broader region
. Uh And we did see some of that sentiment
flow through across most Asian markets. I would still
say that, you know, markets like Taiwan and
Korea have been a key beneficiary of some of the
geopolitical, you know, that we've seen uh as
well as more recently around the A I the.
Uh but uh parts of, you know, Taiwan
specifically, I would say, are now looking a
little stretched. So to some extent, I would
say that uh yes, you know, the slowdown
that we are seeing globally, including, you know
, the slower recovery that we are seeing in China
would start impacting some of these, you know,
more expo driven markets report. When you take a
look at the property sector specifically, at what point
do we start seeing perhaps some opportunity? Uh are
these levels of support that you're seeing from policy makers
significant? I mean, we generally try and not
look at from a sectoral perspective. You know,
the, the way that we approach the market is
essentially look at opportunities from an ad generation and we
try and focus on type of stocks or, you
know, sectors that are likely to benefit because of
rate cuts or, you know, because of broader
policy support. And in the context of, you
know, when China is slowly recovering, but you
know, the global economies are still slowing now.
And with that, in mind, what we are
focusing on are essentially stocks that are still more on
the cyclical side of the market. You know,
a lot of your value memes uh stand out.
In fact, uh along with that, what we
are also now recommending is, you know, adding
some of the high beta names. So I would
say that some of them will appear on the real
estate uh you know, sector as well. Uh
But apart from that, uh you know, more
on the discretionary side, you know, some uh
tech names uh do also stand out. Um is
, is, is India too long in the tooth
. Now, I mean, India, again,
is an interesting market. I think uh you know
, the recent momentum that the market has been seeing
could potentially continue for some more time. But again
, I think the way that we are approaching the
market is uh you know, look for opportunities where
there is both valuation and earning support. Um and
hence, we're not becoming aggressively overweight on. We're
just uh you know, trying to tag along with
some of the names which have been doing well.
So yes, chasing momentum seems to a reasonable strategy
, at least in the shorter term, but also
focus on stocks that are less volatile. We do
think that, you know, markets are not as
attractive from a valuation standpoint as they were say,
a quarterback.